All this interest in the OLED? Am I mad?

[Guest androidfish]

So it seems that there are quite a lot of threads relating to the OLED displays in the Orange San Francisco; how to get hold of them, how to identify them, even how to ship them abroad.

Between seeing pictures of other OLED devices with screen burn (I want to be able to use my new toy without worrying about the notifications/satnav/angry-birds-score burning into my screen), and learning that my device only has two thirds the number of (sub)pixels I thought it did (I can see the fuzzy edges now I know about it), I can't help but feel I would be happier with an LCD device. (I'm sitting here with an OLED San Fran I purchased two weeks ago thinking about trying to sell/swap it for an LCD one (and how best to do this, Amazon market, eBay etc, doubt orange will want to know)).

Am I mad? Or is this a case of the grass being more faithfully represented on the other display type? (a question which goes both ways, I know they both have their pros and cons).

[Guest xzyk]

So it seems that there are quite a lot of threads relating to the OLED displays in the Orange San Francisco; how to get hold of them, how to identify them, even how to ship them abroad.

Between seeing pictures of other OLED devices with screen burn (I want to be able to use my new toy without worrying about the notifications/satnav/angry-birds-score burning into my screen), and learning that my device only has two thirds the number of (sub)pixels I thought it did (I can see the fuzzy edges now I know about it), I can't help but feel I would be happier with an LCD device. (I'm sitting here with an OLED San Fran I purchased two weeks ago thinking about trying to sell/swap it for an LCD one (and how best to do this, Amazon market, eBay etc, doubt orange will want to know)).

Am I mad? Or is this a case of the grass being more faithfully represented on the other display type? (a question which goes both ways, I know they both have their pros and cons).

similar debate is still ongoing about plasma vs lcd flat screen TVs. I think at the end of the day it's down to preference, both have advantages and disadvantages.

[Guest rbbrslmn]

whats this about the OLED having fewer pixels?

[Guest androidfish]

similar debate is still ongoing about plasma vs lcd flat screen TVs. I think at the end of the day it's down to preference, both have advantages and disadvantages.

True, and this is exactly why I have an LCD tv instead of a plasma :D

Lack of stress (re: burn-in) is more important to me than having the biggest/best technical specs.

I don't know how much you would have to use the blade to start seeing problems. Currently I keep it on the lowest brightness setting (which diminishes the AMOLED contrast advantage anyway), but I do use it a lot*, and once I start playing with app/game development that's only going to increase ;)

*I do use it for things other than playing angry birds, honest. :)

[Guest heavyduty00]

i thought amoled looks better colours and sharper and nicer colours generally while tft is good in sunlight and not as sharp

tbh I think amoled looks way nicer lol but i have a tft and it looks fine, but i looked at a youtube video and amoled looks crisper and the brightness and colours make it look amazing

[Guest QuestShield]

OLED in the TV world is going to blow everything out of the water (let the prices fall and mass production commence). No backlighting = pure inky blacks and for cinema buffs that's something good (RIP Pioneer).

Then there's the thinness..look at this:

Yes, I love my OLED phone the image pops out at you with clarity. Imagine a 50" 3D OLED TV in your living room. Mmmmm

[Guest rbbrslmn]

OLED in the TV world is going to blow everything out of the water (let the prices fall and mass production commence). No backlighting = pure inky blacks and for cinema buffs that's something good (RIP Pioneer).

Then there's the thinness..look at this:

Yes, I love my OLED phone the image pops out at you with clarity. Imagine a 50" 3D OLED TV in your living room. Mmmmm

a 50inch OLED tv would be lovely but you can keep that 3D nonsense!

[Guest QuestShield]

a 50inch OLED tv would be lovely but you can keep that 3D nonsense!

Well you'll have the option to watch the 3D, or not. With OLED clarity and brightness I think it's made for 3D, HD, SD. I have a 7 year old plasma and I'm waiting for this tech to hit 50" at a reasonable price before I upgrade.

Edited December 21, 2010 by QuestShield

[Guest androidfish]

whats this about the OLED having fewer pixels?

On a standard LCD display, each pixel is made up of three subpixels, red, green and blue, which can be used to represent any colour.

The Blade (like many other OLED devices) uses something called an RGBG PenTile display.

On a PenTile display, half the pixels only have red and green subpixels, the other half only have blue and green subpixels (the two types alternate). The screen then 'borrows' red or blue from an adjacent pixel where necessary. As far as software is concerned the screen is 800x480, but in practice it can appear slightly blurrier than the LCD equivalent. Straight vertical lines especially can appear 'fuzzy'.

It's still 800x480 though, Samsung and HTC devices with OLED displays are the same, so it's not any form of false advertising.

Whether or not you notice this depends very much on the individual. Cleartype fonts (which perform similar subpixel trickery) look funny to me, so obviously it's something I'm more susceptible to than most :)

[Guest rayraven]

^Personally, i think the fonts look crispier on the OLED. The fonts on the TFT look a bit too smooth for my liking.

Also OLED beats TFT on blacks & viewing angles anyday. Color reproduction is bit too vibrant on OLED, the oranges especially :)

[Guest rbbrslmn]

On a standard LCD display, each pixel is made up of three subpixels, red, green and blue, which can be used to represent any colour.

The Blade (like many other OLED devices) uses something called an RGBG PenTile display.

On a PenTile display, half the pixels only have red and green subpixels, the other half only have blue and green subpixels (the two types alternate). The screen then 'borrows' red or blue from an adjacent pixel where necessary. As far as software is concerned the screen is 800x480, but in practice it can appear slightly blurrier than the LCD equivalent. Straight vertical lines especially can appear 'fuzzy'.

It's still 800x480 though, Samsung and HTC devices with OLED displays are the same, so it's not any form of false advertising.

Whether or not you notice this depends very much on the individual. Cleartype fonts (which perform similar subpixel trickery) look funny to me, so obviously it's something I'm more susceptible to than most :)

cheers for explaining that. my brother in law told me he's got a SF for my sister for xmas so I'll have a little nose over xmas dinner and see which I prefer.

Edited December 21, 2010 by rbbrslmn

[Guest Phoenix Silver]

best thing is to compare with two phones next to each other.

[Guest liamwalsh]

I have had 3 Blades now 2 OLED and 1 TFT and the TFT looks miles better next to the OLED.

On the OLED the screens have a yellow tint to them or a pink tint to the whites, The TFT screen the colours show up perfect im glad i smashed my OLED one.

[Guest The-One]

I have had 3 Blades now 2 OLED and 1 TFT and the TFT looks miles better next to the OLED.

On the OLED the screens have a yellow tint to them or a pink tint to the whites, The TFT screen the colours show up perfect im glad i smashed my OLED one.

Better colors you say?

Max brightness:

Min:

Washed out colors i say.

Not worse, just tft.

Edited December 21, 2010 by The-One

[Guest targetbsp]

We got both kinds in our household and we're both agreed the oled looks better. But as liamwalsh demonstrates above - it's basically personal preference.

[Guest cartierv]

^Personally, i think the fonts look crispier on the OLED. The fonts on the TFT look a bit too smooth for my liking.

Also OLED beats TFT on blacks & viewing angles anyday. Color reproduction is bit too vibrant on OLED, the oranges especially :)

Yeah the viewing angles are like 100 % on SF but then my iMac is pretty good... Another Dell monitor not so good, 30 degrees or so

Edited December 21, 2010 by cartierv

[Guest AceOfSpades]

Better colors you say?

Max brightness:

What is that reflection on the left screen? Its like a mirror on the screen or the screen is far away from the glass or something

Is the touchscreen on the tft better than oled?

[Guest Gary F]

I have one of each next to each other (one is a friend's who asked me to mod it). My personal observation is that the LCD/TFT one has a slight blue tint noticable on anything pure white. Also when the backlight is set to the lowest seting the OLED display is brighter. I'm guessing OLED requires less power to illuminate the screen so perhaps there's a double benefit to that.

I'm happy with the OLED version, it just seems to have a more natural look to it, maybe a slightly warmer colour temperature which suits me better.

[Guest goldengate]

I'm probably biased but I think there was a reason why ZTE chose OLED in the first place???

...because its better to have the wow factor which those side-by-side screenshots above clearly show. Having said that the TFT is basically the same phone and now there is OLED shortages ZTE have been forced to switch to TFT which is acceptable. I say love your blade whatever version it is. :)

[Guest Shrikey]

I love my SF but its true the OLED has sharpness issues and my Dell Axim x50v at 3.7" and 640x480 looks sharper. It all depends on the colours being used for fine detail on an OLED. If you can get 1 pixel line text in pure green that looks great but the same text in red looks more like first gen iphone screen text. Always ifs and buts there are.

[Guest theInquisitor]

^Personally, i think the fonts look crispier on the OLED. The fonts on the TFT look a bit too smooth for my liking.

Also OLED beats TFT on blacks & viewing angles anyday. Color reproduction is bit too vibrant on OLED, the oranges especially :)

I disagree. TFT is definitely sharper, especially when displaying text. This is the effect of the shared pixels and the PenTile pattern of the OLED, which androidfish explained very good. You can see the blurry effect clearly on the close-up photo I posted at http://android.modaco.com/content/zte-blad...son-and-review/

cheers for explaining that. my brother in law told me he's got a SF for my sister for xmas so I'll have a little nose over xmas dinner and see which I prefer.

Don't screw xmas, man!

On the OLED the screens have a yellow tint to them or a pink tint to the whites, The TFT screen the colours show up perfect im glad i smashed my OLED one.

The OLED may have a rather warm colour temperature, but like Gary F I noticed a strong blue tint on the TFT displays, which I consider more unnatural than the yellow tint of the OLED.

Allthough I had both versions and I liked the OLED a bit more just for the fact it's newer technology, I kept a Swiss TFT OSF instead of a British OLED one, since the TFT one was € 40 cheaper for me. If they were the same price I would have definitely prefered the OLED.

[Guest The-One]

What is that reflection on the left screen? Its like a mirror on the screen or the screen is far away from the glass or something

Is the touchscreen on the tft better than oled?

Its the stock screen cover that was lifted up arround the screen, not on the screen itself.

No its not better, and well if you ask me having both phones i would say that the OLED one is better for your eyes during the regular day usage. My eyes get less "tired" thats for sure, and i experience a better battery life with the OLED version. Also the touch sensivity its almost the same in both of them, however if you press it in some specific angles the OLED kinda responds better than the tft one, not that its that noticeable, still its a "feature".

But like i said its a matter of personal preference cause you have tft massified on most phones at the market.

Edited December 22, 2010 by The-One

[Guest Hanks6]

i've used both models in the past week. the lower sub-pixel density is definitely noticable on the OLED, everything looks sharper on the TFT, especially small text. more noticable if you don't look at the screen dead on. overall though, the OLED is the superior display. the screen is way more vibrant and bright even on very low brightness settings. colours look gorgeous and jump out at you. videos and games it is no contest. it takes the phone from crazy good value already to something that can be equated to very high end handsets.

something i noticed is that the colour temperatures on the two different panel types differ considerably. neither are perfect, but the tft, while being a bit too cool and blue looking, gives a truer, more relaxing white. the OLED is far too warm and has a distinct orange/pink tinge to it. would be nice if there was software to adjust the colour temp setting like with the galaxy s.

if you compare it to TVS, plasmas are generally far better than LCD panels. image is smoother and more vibrant. would be interesting in seeing some of the better LED/OLED tvs that are emerging, i believe samsung offer some larger models.

Edited December 22, 2010 by Hanks6

[Guest Arr Too]

Current suspicion is that there is just one OLED screen and two TFT screens (from different manufacturers). Try dialler code *ZTE*CHIPINFO# on the stock dialler [replace letters with numbers...] and check the "Glass" entry. It would be interesting to confirm this, and (if it's true) to work out which one was the better TFT screen.

Edited December 22, 2010 by Arr Too

[Guest Cisco Rooter]

Ars Technica did an article with a geeky look at OLED pentile displays back when the Nexus One was new and exciting.

It was a little bit critical, implying that they were trying to get away with something by using the pentile display (which is common in digital camera's image sensors btw) but still interesting.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2010/0...-and-hacks.ars/

There's also this ridiculously comprehensive comparison which pits the iPhone 3 & 4 screens against Nexus One and Samsung Galaxy S

http://www.displaymate.com/Smartphone_ShootOut_1.htm

The short version is that they all have advantages and disadvantages and the indvidual manufacturers and system softwares can have an impact too, it's not as simple as just OLED vs TFT.

One of the reasons for the pentile matrix is apparently to prevent mistakes when making tiny pixels. This can be described as "cheaper" (if you're an iPhone fanboy unaware of the rumour that AMOLED was the first choice for the iPhone 4 but they couldn't guarantee the quantities they needed) but you can also sell it as getting more display bang for buck, which I'm guessing is why the San Fran went with it originally.